First rejected item - thoughts?

Well after 25 tracks I got my first hard reject. What does anybody think? Harsh or do you think it needs more work?

The snare drum could benefit from more natural tonal/velocity variations (because it feels a bit rigid or unidimensional). Apart from that, I don’t see other obvious reasons why it got rejected. Maybe a bit too repetitive for the length?

Hey @TenRoomsAudio -

You’ve got a nice vibe with this track. Arrangement and instrumentation are fine, IMO.

I think there are 3 areas that probably contributed to your rejection:

  1. Mix: I agree that the snare and cymbals are too hot and sits way up front in the mix. The kick drum is mostly absent and sounds really floppy…no punch to it.

  2. Timing Issues: The piano is out of time in a few places, and that can be a big red flag for a reviewer and client.

  3. Dynamic Range: Although your idea of bringing down your B sections is a good one, it sounds like you adjusted volume levels too far down, especially the acoustic guitar. And the drums don’t follow so they get way too loud in these sections. You may want to try and just use the instrumentation to create a sense of “thinning” rather than drastic fader rides.

Just my initial thoughts…good luck!

-STM

Thanks, I guess I’ve been trying to nail the production line aspect by churning out tracks each week and took my eye off the quality. Good suggestions and I might stick a guitar melody line over the top too.

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